The Historic Route 66 Bikeway is a priority project of the McLean County Regional Greenways Plan. This bikeway will extend an existing bike system, the Constitution Trail in the Bloomington/Normal area, and serve as an important greenways connection between communities in addition to providing increased opportunities for accessing natural and historic points of interest throughout McLean County.

The future bikeway has been divided into five phases and when completed, would add 27 miles of trail to the existing 24 miles of the Constitution Trail. This future bikeway will provide a transportation and open space link between the county’s largest tracts of forest - Funk’s Grove and the Mackinaw River corridor. In addition, this bikeway will be used for access to areas of high quality prairie ecosystems and provide opportunities for photography and study of wildlife habitat.

A bikeway along Historic Route 66 will create an opportunity for non-motorized travel through this historic corridor. Various abandoned or altered alignments of the legendary road exist along this corridor which illustrate the evolution of road engineering and help to preserve a piece of American road history for future generations to experience first hand. This bikeway would unite many of the Route 66 points of interest in McLean County.

These include sections of historic alignment, the Route 66 Walking Tour in Towanda, and the legendary "Memory Lane" in Lexington as an "active transportation museum" experience. Pre-engineering is completed on Phases 1 & 2 from Bloomington/Normal to Mclean. Construction will begin when funds are received from the Federal Department of Transportation on Phases 1 & 2.

For more information, contact Rick Nolan
McLean County Regional Planning Commission
(309) 828-4331